Sgt. Aaron Schmautz, President of the Portland Police Association, on Oregon's decriminalization of drugs, his trip to Portugal, and Portland's Police Accountability Commission

Sgt. Aaron Schmautz is the President of the Portland Police Association (PPA). The PPA is an independent labor organization representing Portland police officers and other employees of the Portland Police Bureau. Sgt. Schmautz discusses his recent trip to Portugal with other Oregon leaders to learn about Portugal's decriminalization of drugs and how it compares to the decriminalization of drugs in Oregon. Sgt. Schmautz also discusses a poll commissioned by the PPA regarding the Portland Police Accountability Commission (PAC), which shows that a majority of respondents do not approve of the PAC's recommendations regarding police accountability and that the majority of respondents favor city council sending the ballot measure that created the PAC back to the voters. https://www.ppavigil.org https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2023/12/majority-of-portland-voters-say-theyd-leave-if-they-could-as-crime-homeless-concerns-persist-new-poll-finds.html?outputType=amp https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24215979/ppa-survey-toplines-01249-december-2023.pdf https://www.kgw.com/article/news/politics/poll-survey-portland-police-union-civilian-oversight-accountability-commission/283-9037044c-5d41-47f8-9ea2-7340425203d9 https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2023/11/oregon-leaders-tasked-to-act-on-measure-110-fentanyl-went-to-portugal-in-search-of-answers-heres-what-they-found.html?outputType=amp https://manhattan.institute/article/portlands-police-staffing-crisis https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-police-staffing-levels-reach-historic-lows-amid-struggle-for-recruitment-retention/600305214/ https://open.spotify.com/episode/0mD4J6lN0ulxeiwCAMAK2N?si=98bf39b279f5431b https://www.koin.com/news/portland/portland-waterfront-police-memorial-vandalized-for-second-time-this-year/